Kai's First Christmas
by Mini Kunoichi
Summary: Well, not his very first. Kai learns that Christmas can be magical even at the Abby. One-shot, Kaixoc.


**Not Kai's very first Christmas, but his first at the Abby. If you've read _Journey to the Past_, you'll like this one. I hope.**

Christmas carols blared from the Abby kitchen as Tala walked down the hallway. When he entered the domain of his surrogate sister, Anastasiya Tabaczynski, he could see that the noise was coming from a radio that didn't usually occupy the space.

"Where did you get that radio?" he asked.

"A very nice guard was kind enough to lend it to me," she replied while flipping through recipes.

"Uh-huh, so you stole it," it wasn't a question.

"Yup,"

"Put it back," Tala sighed. He walked over and unplugged the radio, ignoring the protests of the tiny cook. Ana stomped over to the radio, smacked his hand away, and plugged it back in.

"No," she scolded. "Bad Scrooge. Now, when are we going to the market?"

"Well, Ani, I can't take you anymore," Tala explained nervously. He knew she wasn't particularly going to like the second part of his news.

"What? How am I supposed to get to the market? Boris won't let me go by myself!"

Tala took a deep breath and prepared to give Ana the news that would most likely bring her wrath down on his head.

"Kai's taking you."

– – – – –

About half an hour later, Ana was walking through the stalls of Moscow's open air market with a very annoyed Kai following behind. She stopped at a produce stand and started inspecting the vegetables on display.

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Kai grumbled when she shoved a ten pound bag of potatoes at him, implying that he carry them.

"Because it's Christmas Eve," the Pol replied almost too calmly. "And Christmas is the one night a year when Boris lets you boys eat something other than soup. You haven't been around long enough to fully appreciate that fact."

"Trust me, I have," he replied.

"Two weeks? You only have the faintest idea,"

"Whatever," he sighed. Ana glared at him before walking off to visit the butcher. Kai rolled his eyes at her retreating back.

He watched her haggle over prices with vendors who knew her by name and probably had no idea of the hell she lived in. Kai hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was fascinated by her. Here was a girl who had grown up in the Abby alongside around a hundred boys, but could still be feminine. She ruled the kitchens and looked out for the younger girls who worked with her.

"Are you coming?" Ana stood at the butcher stall with one hand on her hip and the other holding her shopping basket. Kai shouldered the sack of potatoes and followed her.

"Boris doesn't strike me as the person to allow a special meal just because it's Christmas," he voiced the thought that had been on his mind the whole afternoon.

"He's not," Ana replied.

"You talked him into it?"

"More like annoyed him into it."

– – – – –

Walking back from the market, Kai wondered how many boys at the Abby would kill to be in his position. He walked behind Ana watching her blonde ponytail swish back and forth. Despite her overcoat being several sized too big, it looked as though she had owned it a few years.

The kitchen was oddly quite when they got there.

"It's nap time," Ana informed him before he even had to ask.

"They get nap time?" he asked, setting the potatoes on the counter.

"Do _you_ want to deal with small children who haven't had their afternoon nap?"

Kai got an idea. "So we're alone?"

"Yea . . . why?"

And he kissed her. For a moment, Ana considered slapping him, but it was a very short moment. Instead she melted into the kiss. Kai's lips were warm, soft, and surprisingly gentle.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long."

Kai and Ana jumped apart. Tala and Bryan were standing in the door to the hallway and both were smirking.

– – – – –

Christmas day was probably the busiest day of the year in the Abby kitchens. Anastasiya supervised girls peeling potatoes, stirring cranberry sauce, making gravy, and chopping vegetables. After saving one girl from almost chopping off her finger, Ana took over quartering the potatoes.

"Is it safe to come in?" Tala's voice floated from the door that led to the alleyway.

"Don't track snow in my kitchen," was her reply.

The red-head carefully knocked all the snow from his boots before stepping inside. Ana looked up to greet her friend and saw that he wasn't alone. Kai was mimicking his captain and removing the snow from his boots. Ana's face told Tala that the new addition was not entirely welcome.

"We're avoiding practice," Tala explained.

She raised and eyebrow and he sighed. Looked like he was going to have to tread carefully if he didn't want that knife in her hand thrown at his head. He and Kai did their best to stay out of the way, occasionally helping one of the younger girls lift a heavy pot or reach something just out of reach.

Almost an hour had passed when the outside door started to open again. There was a loud 'thunk' and Kai looked up. The knife that Ana had been using on the potatoes was now stuck in the wooden door.

"Bryan!" she growled when a silver head inched around the door. "Don't do that!"

"I only opened the door!" he protested.

"In a very sneaky manner! I thought you were a guard!" she complained. Instead of retrieving the knife from the door, she opened a nearby drawer and pulled out another one.

"I was just making sure you and Kai weren't playing tonsil hockey or something,"

'THUNK!' The second knife imbedded itself inches below the first. Bryan just rolled his eyes and pulled the knives out of the door, taking them to the sink to be washed.

"Don't kill Bryan," Tala sighed as Ana was pulling out a third knife.

The 'blader in question wandered over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka that was well out of reach of the younger kids. Not bothering to get a glass, he took a swig straight from the bottle.

"Bryan, that's for cooking," Ana explained, having put the potatoes on to boil and moving to check on the ham in the oven.

"Come on, Ani. It's Christmas." Tala replied.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" she pouted.

Tala shrugged, walked over to Bryan, and took his own swig of vodka. Ana rolled her eyes and took the vodka from the two, giving a stern look to the girls who asked for a sip.

"It's for cooking," she repeated. "You two are a bad influence."

"But you love us anyway," Bryan smirked.

"Tala, yes. You, not so much," that said, Ana went back to supervising dinner.

– – – – –

Everything was ready by the time practice was officially over. Every single boy in the Abby lined up eagerly for the one decent meal they would get all year. Kai was surprised how even the promise of a good meal put them all in a good mood. He wondered is Boris ever considered letting Ana cook what she wanted all year. It probably had and he just didn't care. But what Kai really noticed was the look on Ana's face. She seemed quite content; happy to brighten their day even if it was only once a year.

Later that night, after he was sure the younger girls would be in bed, Kai slipped into the kitchen. There was the usual group of boys who were denied dinner and ones who just wanted seconds.

"You have this Christmas thing down, don't you?" he asked after giving her a kiss.

"It's the one time a year I can make these boys lives a little better," she replied, smiling.

If Kai didn't know better, he would think he was falling in love.

**So how was it? Good? Bad? Okish? Let me know.**


End file.
